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When I pictured studying abroad in Salzburg, I imagined the Alps, Mozart, and maybe too much schnitzel. What I wasn’t expecting was the amount of history that I would encounter. History here isn’t just shown through museums – its on street corners, in architecture, and in the festivals.

Walking across the river to Altstadt (Old Town), you can see Baroque churches, pastel-colored houses, and narrow cobblestone streets. It’s easy to see why UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site. Above the familiar city towers is the Hohensalzburg Fortress, first built in the 11th century and expanded over time. Once a powerful symbol of protection for Salzburg’s prince-archbishops, today it’s one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe. It’s interesting to think about how it is a popular tourist destination, as it looks out across the Salzach River and alps, but it was once prepared for sieges. And of course, Salzburg is forever linked to Mozart. His birthplace on Getreidgasse is now a museum – but even better you can get a good feel for it from the outside (for free!), and everywhere you turn there are reminders of his music. It made me realize how a city’s history isn’t just built in stone, it’s carried through sound, culture, and identity.

For all of its beauty, Salzburg has a darker history, too. Austria’s Anschluss, where German troops invaded Austria on March 12th, 1938, and Hitler declared Austria part of the Greater German Reich on March 15th, meaning Salzburg was officially part of Nazi Germany. The city’s Jewish community was almost entirely deported to concentration camps. Today, small brass plaques called Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) represent the last homes of those who were taken. I pass these plaques every day to and from class, and I can’t help but think of the ordinary lives they represent. By 1944-45, Salzburg was heavily bombed by allied forces because of its rail lines and military importance. Nearly half of the city was damaged, but landmarks like the cathedral and fortress survived. Post war, Salzburg fell into the American occupation zone, and U.S. soldiers were stationed here until Austria regained independence in 1955. Having this background knowledge, with the help of my World War II History class I’m taking, it’s evident that Salzburg has lived though destruction and rebuilding, memory and resilience.

One of the perks of studying in Salzburg is how easy it is to hop on a train and end up in Munich, Germany. Last weekend I went for Oktoberfest, and while I knew it was about beer tents and drindls, I didn’t know its history. It actually started in 1810, celebrating the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Bavaria. It began as a horse race but eventually turned into an annual festival and the world’s largest folk celebration. Along with the fun and the chaos, Munich is also a city marked by survival. I visited the Fraunkirche and St. Pauls church, two of Munich’s most iconic landmarks that survived bombings and invasions.

To balance the joy of Oktoberfest, I visited a World War II museum. Inside were propaganda posters, letters, photographs, and stories of resistance. Seeing personal belongings from that time made the war feel less like history and more like lived experience. The contrast struck me: on Saturday I was singing Bavarian songs in a beer tent, and on Sunday I was standing in silence, reading about families and businesses torn apart by war. That duality – celebration and tragedy, joy and remembrance – is something that I have frequently noticed here in Europe.

What ties all these experiences together is the realization that history here isn’t locked in a classroom. Its in Salzburg’s fortress walls, in Munich’s rebuilt cathedral, in Oktoberfest songs, and in the Stolpersteine on the streets. Salzburg is beautiful, yes—but it’s also layered, carrying stories, destruction, and joy all at once, and being here means I get to live inside those stories.